£40,0000
Average cost of a Family Law hearing in 2017*
At Arkouda Legal, we believe in efficiency in the division of assets, not in racking up fees by spinning blame, which means the total cost with us can be £2,000 or less because court hearings are not necessary.
FAMILY LAW
One Lawyer Method
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Philip Jones argued for no fault divorce in 2008. 14 years later, 6 April 2022, no fault divorce has become law. The changes mean there is now no requirement to assign fault when filing for divorce, despite what some lawyers may tell you. Our philosophy is for us to act for both parties when possible. This alleviates unnecessary argument and consequential costs.
A last will and testament, for example, requires only one lawyer where the division of assets is decided by the individual. The same method can be applied in divorce. The division of assets (and allocation of time with children) is decided by a legal formula which determines the allocation to each party. Be Warned The difficulty arises that lawyers tell people that they can get a better deal when they cannot. They will charge large amounts of money for pre-nups that are NOT actually legally binding. At best, a pre-nup is persuasive, but is often ignored by judges and in effect, a pre-nup is not worth the paper it is written on.
Why employ two lawyers when one will
deliver a better outcome?
We will apply the statutory legal formula from the outset to avoid protracted litigation and unnecessary legal costs, saving not only money but time as well.
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*Abuse or violence are to be dealt with as criminal/civil matters outside the scope of Family Law
Philip's Legal Education
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Philip's dissertation was on Family Law reform in 2008, where he advocated no-fault divorce and the use of one lawyer, not two. Nonetheless, though he was told by a professor that this was the answer to Family Law problems, it was not until 2021 that fault was removed from Divorce in England.
Although perfectly legal today, we await the enforcement of the one lawyer rule. After all, why would lawyers change the rules of a business that has an income of over £10 billion a year?
Personal History with Divorce
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Arkouda Legal is managed by Philip J.S. Jones. He left work as an international reinsurance broker for Lloyds of London in the late 90's and set up a lucrative property business which was destroyed when he got divorced, due to excessive legal fees. His legal bill was such that after solicitor's miscalculation of asset values and a protracted divorce case, he lost everything he ever worked for.
The lawyers' estimated legal costs at the outset were £2,500 or £4,500 if the matter went to court. The real legal costs were over £98,000. It was this injustice that led him to study Law in English (and Spanish) in order to sue the two firms of amoral and fraudulent solicitors who represented him in his divorce. He won both cases before he had finished his law degree.
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Due to this great injustice, since 2004 Philip has worked to help those in need to rectify problems caused by unscrupulous lawyers. It is a sad indictment against the legal profession that too many lawyers choose money over morality, despite the untold harm that they cause.
The immorality of greed is endemic in Family Law to such an extent that some lawyers are now, after many years of denial, beginning to admit the damaging effects of shameless, unethical lawyers on the basic fabric of society,
which is the family.